August 10, 2026 - Hosea 3

What a wonderful story is told in chapter 3!  What wonderful gospel truths are foreshadowed!  Here is the gospel in the Old Testament!  How great was Gomer’s sin!  But even greater was Hosea’s perseverance and grace in winning her back to himself.  Like Israel who had turned away from her husband, God, Gomer had turned away from Hosea.  Israel had sinned against God, Gomer had sinned against Hosea.  But, as God had, over and over again, graciously wooed Israel and brought her back to himself, so Hosea wooed his wife.  Even more, as Hosea paid a price to redeem Gomer – “I bought her for fifteen shekels of silver and a homer and a lethech of barley” (3:2) – God has paid a dear price to redeem us – “You were ransomed from the futile ways inherited from your forefathers, not with perishable things such as silver or gold, but with the precious blood of Christ, like that of a lamb without blemish or spot” (1 Peter 1:18-19).  What a beautiful picture of redemption is the story of Hosea and Gomer!  But even greater is our redemption, redemption gained only by the death of God’s Son.

There is a green hill far away,

outside a city wall,

where the dear Lord was crucified,

who died to save us all.

There was no other good enough

to pay the price of sin;

He only could unlock the gate

of heav’n, and let us in.   -- Cecil Frances Alexander (1848)